The best part is I got all the way into the park using public transportation, which is good because I don't have a car anymore.
Here is the breakdown:
5 minute walk to the 125 street 60 bus, which takes another 5 minutes to get to the 125th street Harlem Metro North Station. Then for 9 bucks I buy a one way ticket to Peekskill, the ride takes about 50 minutes, which puts me right on the other side of the Hudson River from the park. I paid a cabby 25 bucks to drive me to the visitor center which is another 20 minutes from the station.
Okay, it takes a bit more planning than driving a car would, but hey, I didn't have to fill my tank up at $4.00+ a gallon.
I bought a topo map, and some snacks from the visitor center, and set out for adventure.
I hiked a few miles down a mountain bike trail to a section of the Appalachian Trail where I turned off on an old mining road that led to Silvermine Lake, where I camped for the next two nights.
First things first, after finding a decent campsite and setting up my trusty (and a little bit tattered from years of use) tent, I laid out my hammock, and took a nap. The forests are very tropical compared to the pine and sage of the high desert mountains of Utah.
The lake water was warm and perfect for swimming, so after my nap I took a dip.
That night I hiked about a mile back up the trail to watch the fireworks along the Hudson and in Peekskill (see the pictures above, same view less light, and imagine little fireworks in the distance).
The next day I did some more hiking and took some pictures:
I saw lots of mushrooms and moss, a couple frogs, and a water snake, plus a slew of birds.
The second night I made a nice fire, not to keep warm… because it was warm (72f), but just because, every camping trip needs a fire to be complete .
I woke up probably around 4:00 am and it was pitch dark, and dead silent. It was an oppressive silence that made me want to yell out and make some noise.
A leaf dropped in the distance.
Then another, next to my tent.
I rolled over to go back to sleep, but it was just too quiet…
10 more minutes of this go by, and finally…
A single bird, calls.
And as if the bird saw the first photon from the east, as the sun stopped setting and started rising.
A choir of chirps and whistles slowly join the first.
Then I fell back a sleep.
I woke up later that morning, took a dip, washed my dishes from the night before. Then I packed up and hiked further down the old mining road out to the interstate. Two days before, I told the cabby that I would possibly be needing a ride on Sunday back to Peekskill from the visitor center, but I didn’t really want to pay another 25 bucks to get out. I was lucky enough to hitch a ride from a man who had just dropped his kids off at a camp in the area (a Christian/Hindu unification camp! yay).
When I got back to town I went straight to the Peekskill Diner. I ordered blueberry pancakes, eggs (overeasy ) with a side of hash browns, and toast. I killed the eggs and potatoes, but didn’t quite finish rest. I left the diner very satisfied and ready to take a nap on the train ride home.
Out of the wilderness and back into the jungle.
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